A Study on Wind Turbine Effects for Low Speed Application

Abstract

With the surge in fossil fuel prices and the conversation on climate change and global warming, wind energy has been subjected to incredible development in the recent years. However, the main problem of wind turbine is associated with the designing of the wind turbine itself. The design has to be suit the wind condition. Some designs are too big to harness the energy from the low wind speed condition. This paper focuses on the impact of Angle of Attack (AoA) and the type of wind turbine namely Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) and Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) for low wind speed condition. The AoA of the wind turbine blade varies at 15, 30 and 45 degrees. The prototype blades are tested in two conditions; laboratory control and actual condition to compare the performance of each design of the wind turbine design. From the findings of the AoA, the best angle is selected and then tested in both type of wind turbine; VAWT and HAWT. In terms of making wind turbine, a software known as 123D Design is used to design the wind turbine based on the desired specification. Then the blades are made by material PLA using 3D printing method. Making blades with 3D printing made it easy to get the twist and angle on the blades for aerodynamics. For performance test, a 24V motor was used as a generator and was mounted on tower to make the wind turbine. Each set of blades was subjected to wind speeds ranging from 5m/s to 13m/s and the electrical power output was measured. Electrical power output and efficiency was calculated using the measured readings. The blade at vertical axis with angle 45° gives the highest performance compared to other design. It capable of generating more electrical power than the other two blades and had a higher efficiency which is 81.42% compared to the others.